


Not Everything Has To Be Perfect

by apollonious



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Astrid Hofferson is hurt, Awkward Boners, Dragons: Race to the Edge, F/M, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III fights a boner, Minor Injuries, saturday is dragon day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-24
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:13:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21539560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/apollonious/pseuds/apollonious
Summary: The first time Hiccup sees Astrid naked, it is entirely accidental.Honestly. It is.
Relationships: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III/Astrid Hofferson
Comments: 8
Kudos: 157





	Not Everything Has To Be Perfect

The first time Hiccup sees Astrid naked, it is entirely accidental.

Honestly. It is.

It’s a few weeks after they’ve officially been betrothed, and they’re on their way back to the Edge from an island in the far north of the Archipelago. Hiccup and Astrid were on their own for this mission. The Twins had somehow managed to talk Snotlout and Fishlegs into trying a “stew” that Ruffnut had concocted. Hiccup is more surprised at Fishlegs making that choice than Snotlout, but all four have been laid up for the past two days with stomach cramps and other complaints which made Hiccup and Astrid jump at the chance to get off the Edge.

While the mission was technically a success, it ended rather messily. Hiccup and Astrid are now both coated in a variety of fluids. Hiccup isn’t sure exactly what, and he is fine with not knowing precisely, but even without knowing what it is, the smell is overpowering—a mix of metallic copper, something he thinks was probably a living thing, and the deeply familiar scent of dragon dung. There’s something he can’t quite place, and as he feels the various substances drying on his skin, it starts to get to him. 

Finally, as they’re flying over a small, deserted island, a breeze passes over Astrid and Stormfly to hit Hiccup and Toothless. Toothless sneezes, and Hiccup barely manages to keep from gagging. 

“Let’s get cleaned up,” Hiccup calls to Astrid, waving toward the island.

Astrid nods. “Sounds good to me.”

The two dragons land on a narrow, sandy beach, isolated even from the rest of this tiny island in the bottom of a cove. Stormfly trots out into the surf at once, preening in the saltwater. Toothless is the only one of them who made it out clean—mainly because he jumped out of the way so Hiccup could get blasted full in the face with the sludge—but he follows Hiccup into the water anyway. Astrid disappears on Stormfly’s other side.

Hiccup starts by dunking his entire head under the water, scrubbing furiously at his hair and face until the lack of air starts making him go light-headed. Gasping as he comes back up, he throws his head back, spraying Toothless with water from his hair. The dragon grumbles. Hiccup unbuckles a saddlebag and pulls out two lumps of soap. 

“Hey, Astrid!” he calls.

“Yeah?”

“Catch!” He tosses one of the soaps so that it arcs over Stormfly’s back.

“Thanks, babe!” Astrid says a moment later. She makes a noise of disgust. “Oh, gods. I found a chunk in my hair.”

Hiccup barely manages to bite back a laugh, knowing he would be doomed if such a sound reached her ears. 

He washes his hair again, this time with soap, and slowly strips down, washing each of his garments as best he can and then laying them across Toothless’ back to dry. 

Then it happens.

Astrid is hum-singing a song that Hiccup recognizes from countless festivals and nights around the fire as she does the same as he’s doing—or so he assumes, anyway.

There is a crack of wood from the forest above them, followed by a crash. It is probably just a tree falling, but it makes all four of their heads whip around to look. 

A moment later, Astrid gasps, crying, “Stormfly, no!” But even as Hiccup turns, the dragon is gone, flying off to investigate the sound. Astrid’s clothes fall onto the beach in a scattered line tracing the dragon’s path: boots, leggings, skirt, shirt, and spiked spaulders.

Hiccup’s eyes settle on Astrid. 

She is up to her waist in the water, and her golden hair, loosened from its braid, hangs over her shoulders to conceal her breasts—well, mostly, anyway. As much as it can while wet. All the same, there is a good deal of creamy paleness showing through, and even a touch of pink here and there. 

She is not scrambling to cover herself, as she would have done even a year ago. She is simply standing there, looking at him as he looks at her. Of course, she’s seen him without a shirt on before, if not the state of undress he’s in now, but it’s rather different when she’s naked too. There is a look in her eyes that makes Hiccup quite glad both for the coldness of the water and the fact that the too is covered below the waist. 

They lock eyes across the stretch of water between them as the waves roll past to crash onto the beach. Hiccup can feel a blush creeping across his face, and he can see the same pinkness suffusing Astrid’s cheeks. Slowly, half-hesitantly, Hiccup takes a step toward her.

Then, as a wave higher than the others crashes over them, Astrid gasps—in pain, Hiccup realizes—and recoils, turning away so that Hiccup can see the scratch crossing her ribcage down to the small of her back, as well as the thin wash of blood that trickles down into the water from the cut.

He starts toward her, all hesitancy lost now. “Oh, Thor,” he says. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Astrid gasps, her voice a little strained. “Just the saltwater.”

“What happened?”

“I think it must have been that big Stormcutter. Probably got me with a claw by accident as he was escaping.”

“You didn’t feel it?”

She only shrugs.

As he reaches her and sees the wound closer up, Hiccup grimaces with sympathy. “Let’s get that bandaged up.” He waves Toothless over. The Night Fury stays just long enough for Hiccup to grab his first-aid kit and canteen before he takes off in pursuit of Stormfly, leaving Hiccup’s clothes parallel to Astrid’s on the beach. 

Hiccup sighs as he watches Toothless fly off. When Astrid giggles, he gives her an incredulous stare, which only makes her laugh more.

“Could you hold this?” Hiccup says, handing her the canvas pouch. He takes out a roll of bandage and unspools a little, then uses the fresh water from his canteen to dampen the cloth and wipe at the cut. Astrid flinches at the touch.

“Sorry, I’m trying to be gentle,” he says.

“It’s not your fault.” She turns to look at him. “Wouldn’t you rather do this on the beach?”

He knows he isn’t hiding his panic as he meets her eyes, and she is puzzled for a moment before she gets it. “That’s what you’re worried about?” she asks incredulously.

“Are you not worried about it?”

“About seeing—Hiccup. Come on. I would be surprised if you weren’t…” She is blushing scarlet now. “Okay. Here’s what we’re gonna do. I’ll get out of the water, and you follow. I promise I won’t watch.”

“Astrid—”

“It’s really not a big deal, Hiccup.” With that, she turns and walks up toward the beach.

Hiccup thinks otherwise. He can’t look away. As her bottom clears the waves a few feet from him, he sees that it is just as perfect, as delicately rounded, as he’s imagined it, and pink from the chill of the water. And her legs…

Involuntarily, he makes a strangled noise in the back of his throat. Astrid pauses for a moment, but true to her word, she doesn’t look back at him. She sits on the beach just out of reach of the surf, and he is grateful to notice that she does this as un-alluringly as possible.

He gives himself one last moment before he splashes out after her, trying to remind himself that the reason they are doing this is that she is injured, in pain, and that she needs his help.

That mostly works; by the time he reaches her, he is able to kneel comfortably. He cleans the cut again, then rips off another, longer strip of bandage that he wads up and lays along the scratch.

As he does this, Astrid is speaking. “You know, you don’t need to be embarrassed.” She hooks one hand around her hair and pulls it forward over her shoulder.

“I’m not embarrassed,” he says defensively. “Could you put pressure right here?” She places her hand where he’s indicated, and he begins winding a layer of bandage around her to hold the thicker pad in place, passing the roll of bandages from one hand to the other with plenty of space between his arms and her waist. “It’s a pity we don’t have a dragon around,” he says. “Their saliva’s a good adhesive. I wouldn’t have to use as much bandage.”

“Dragon spit? On an open wound?” Astrid asks skeptically.

He shrugs. “I’ve done it.”

Eventually, he reaches the spot where she is holding the bandage in place, and she takes her hand away without him needing to tell her to. 

Then his hand brushes one of her breasts, and he clears his throat awkwardly. “Um—is there any way you could move—”

With a huff of laughter through her nose, she obliges him, holding her arm across her chest. He takes the spool of bandages around her twice more, his thumbs brushing against her arm both times in a way that completely consumes his attention. Somehow he manages to cut off the roll of bandages and tuck the working end in neatly, patting twice to make sure it’s in securely.

“Clothes, then back to the Edge?” he asks, his voice rough despite himself.

“Clothes, then back to the Edge,” Astrid agrees.

Hiccup stands and makes a beeline for his pants. As he’s pulling them on, carefully feeding his prosthetic through its pant leg, he realizes that Astrid hasn’t moved. Now half-dressed, he turns to look at her and raises his eyebrows questioningly. 

“You got to see my ass,” she says by way of explanation. She stands and begins gathering her clothes.

Hiccup turns away hurriedly to grab his shirt. “And was my ass to your satisfaction?”

“Yes,” she says, amusement in her voice. “What about mine?”

“Do you really need to ask?”

“I suppose not.” A slight smugness has entered her tone. 

Hiccup sighs, sitting down on the sand to pull on his boot. 

“What’s wrong?” Astrid asks.

He looks over at her. She’s in her top and leggings now, pulling on her spaulders, her skirt on the sand a few feet away. Her hair is still loose, hanging damply around her.

“It’s just—do you remember what I said to you the first time I kissed you, about wanting it to be perfect?”

“Of course I do. Why?” She puts on her skirt.

“Well, stopping to bathe because we’re covered in filth, having our dragons fly off, having you hurt… nothing about today was perfect. Nothing like I’ve—” He stops, blushing scarlet, and stands up to go pick up his armor. 

Astrid’s cheeks are stained with pink, but her voice is teasing as she says, “So you have imagined it.”

“I—of course I have.”

Still barefoot, but otherwise fully dressed, she comes over to him and pulls his head down to kiss him. “Not everything has to be perfect,” she says, her eyes mere inches from him.

He kisses her, remembering the scratch just in time to keep from wrapping his arms around her. “But you deserve perfect,” he says.

She shrugs. “We have plenty of time for that, babe.”

“If you say so.” He kisses her again. “Come on. Get your boots on, and let’s go find our dragons.”

**Author's Note:**

> The next chapter of In the City of Bridges will be coming next week!
> 
> Thanks for reading! Please do leave a comment it you feel like it.


End file.
